Albuquerque · New to Medicare in 2026 · Presbyterian plan ending

Turned 65 in 2026 and Chose Presbyterian? Your Medigap Trial Right

You picked a plan a few months ago and now it is going away. The good news most new members have not been told: because you joined at 65, federal rules give you a wider set of Medigap choices than a longtime member gets, and for some of you the original 6-month window is still open.

By the New Mexico Medicare Help Data Desk

Reviewed by Brian Penner, Independent Medicare advisor — no pressure · Published September 16, 2026

If you turned 65 in 2026 and chose a Presbyterian Medicare Advantage plan, you have a federal trial right: within the first 12 months of joining, you can switch to Original Medicare and buy any Medigap policy sold by any insurance company in New Mexico, and the company cannot refuse you or charge you more because of your health. Presbyterian announced on June 2, 2026 that it is discontinuing most of its Medicare Advantage plans in New Mexico for the 2027 plan year, affecting about 30,000 members; 2026 coverage is unchanged through December 31, 2026, and 2027 coverage is chosen during October 15, 2026–December 7, 2026. A member who joined years ago gets a narrower protection when a plan leaves Medicare, limited to Plans A, B, D and G. A member who joined at 65 this year gets that protection and the trial right, and if Part B started in the second half of 2026, the original 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period on top. Medicare's own guide says that when more than one right applies, you choose the one that fits your situation.

The rules: Choosing a Medigap Policy, CMS product 02110, March 2026 edition, pages 10–19, and Medicare.gov, when can I buy a Medigap policy. The change: The Santa Fe New Mexican and Albuquerque Journal (June 2026). If you have been a member for years, start with your four options in Albuquerque instead.

Do I get a Medigap trial right if I joined at 65 this year?

Yes. The federal rule is written for exactly your situation. Medicare's guide describes it this way: "You joined a Medicare Advantage Plan or Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) when you were first eligible for Medicare Part A at 65, and within the first year of joining, you decide you want to switch to Original Medicare. (Trial right)." What you can buy is "Any Medigap policy that's sold by an insurance company in your state," and you can apply "60 days before your coverage ends" or "No more than 63 days after your coverage ends."

Three details matter. First, the right is about switching to Original Medicare. If you pick another Medicare Advantage plan for 2027, you are not using it. Second, "any Medigap policy" is broader than the plan-leaving right that every Presbyterian member gets. It includes Plan N, Plans K and L, and the high-deductible version of Plan G, none of which are on the plan-leaving list. Third, the clock is your first year in the plan, and Presbyterian's plans end on December 31, 2026. If you joined at any point in 2026, your coverage ends within your first 12 months, so the timing works on its own. The guide adds that your rights "may last for an extra 12 months under certain circumstances," which is a question for the state insurance department, not something to count on.

A trial right exists in a second form, too. If you had a Medigap policy first, dropped it to join Presbyterian for the first time in 2026, and have been in the plan less than a year, you can get "The Medigap policy you had before you joined the Medicare Advantage Plan," if the same company still sells it, or Plan A, B, D or G if it does not. That applies to a smaller group, but if you came to Presbyterian from a Medigap policy this year, it is your route back.

Is my 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period still open?

For about half of 2026's new members, yes. The guide says the "6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period starts the first month you have Medicare Part B and you're 65 or older. This is a one-time enrollment period; it doesn't repeat every year." Nothing in that sentence depends on whether you joined a Medicare Advantage plan. The window opened when Part B started and closes six months later, no matter what you did in between. Medicare also says plainly that "You can only buy Medigap if you have Original Medicare," so the window can be used only for a policy that starts once the Presbyterian plan has ended.

When Part B started depends on when you signed up. Medicare.gov's rule for the Initial Enrollment Period is that if you sign up before the month you turn 65, coverage starts "The month you turn 65," and if you sign up the month you turn 65 or during the three months after, it starts "The next month." Coverage "always starts on the first of the month." Your Medicare card shows the Part B effective date; that date, not your birthday, is what counts. The table below runs the calendar for each 2026 start month.

Windows computed from the 6-month rule on page 10 and the 60-day / 63-day rule on pages 17–18 of Choosing a Medigap Policy (March 2026) and the coverage-start rules at Medicare.gov. March 4, 2027 is 63 days after December 31, 2026. Confirm your own dates with 1-800-MEDICARE or the free counselors at New Mexico's SHIP.

One practical difference between the open-enrollment window and the two guaranteed-issue rights. During the open-enrollment window, a company "can't use medical underwriting," but the guide says it can in some cases refuse to cover a pre-existing condition for up to 6 months, unless you had at least six months of continuous creditable coverage before the policy with no break longer than 63 days. Under a guaranteed-issue right, by contrast, "the insurance company must cover all your pre-existing health conditions without a waiting period." Ask the company how it treats your months in the Presbyterian plan; for a member leaving a plan that is ending, the guaranteed-issue route usually answers the question outright.

Which of the three protections should I use?

You do not have to guess. The guide says there may be times when more than one of the situations on its pages 17–18 applies to you, and when that happens you can choose whichever guaranteed issue right fits your situation. Here is what each one gives a Presbyterian member who is returning to Original Medicare.

Source: Choosing a Medigap Policy (March 2026), pages 10–11 and 17–19; Medicare.gov. Plans C and F: "Plans C and F are no longer available to people new to Medicare on or after January 1, 2020," who "have the right to buy Plan D or G instead."

In practice the decision comes down to which plan letter you want. If the plan you want is G, D, A or B, all three doors lead to it and the guaranteed-issue routes remove the pre-existing-condition question. If you want Plan N or high-deductible Plan G, you need the trial right or the open-enrollment window, and you should say so on the application. Whichever right you rely on, the guide's advice is the same: keep "Copies of letters, notices, emails, or claim denials that have your name on them as proof of your coverage being terminated" and "The postmarked envelope these papers come in as proof of when it was mailed." Presbyterian's non-renewal letter, which by CMS rule is dated October 2, is that proof; our decoder is the non-renewal letter explained.

What if I moved to New Mexico or switched plans in 2026?

The trial right is tied to how you joined, not when. Two common 2026 stories do not qualify for it.

• You moved to New Mexico this year and used a moving Special Enrollment Period to join Presbyterian. Unless you were also new to Medicare at 65, or you dropped a Medigap policy to do it, you have no trial right. You do have the plan-leaving right: Plan A, B, D or G, no underwriting, November 1, 2026–March 4, 2027. If you kept a Medigap policy from your old state and never dropped it, you may simply keep it; Medigap policies are not tied to a state's network.
• You switched to Presbyterian from another Medicare Advantage plan during last fall's enrollment period. Same answer: no trial right, full plan-leaving right. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period you may have used in early 2026 does not create a Medigap protection.
• You turned 65 and joined Presbyterian, but your Part B started before 2026. If you delayed Part B for employer coverage and then joined Presbyterian at, say, 67, the trial right still requires that you joined "when you were first eligible for Medicare Part A at 65." That is a question to put to the state insurance department, and the plan-leaving right applies regardless.

Remember also that New Mexico's guaranteed-issue rules are the federal floor. The guide points readers to the state insurance department for "additional rights under state law." In New Mexico that is the Office of Superintendent of Insurance, and the wider rules for longtime members are in Medigap guaranteed-issue rights in New Mexico for 2027.

What changes on January 1, 2027, and what does not?

Sources: Choosing a Medigap Policy (March 2026), page 9 (drug coverage); Medicare.gov, Open Enrollment; Medicare.gov, Part D late enrollment penalty; Medicare.gov, when coverage starts.

Which dates matter?

Sources: Medicare.gov, Open Enrollment; CMS, CY 2026 enrollment and disenrollment guidance (non-renewal SEP); Medicare.gov, plan non-renewal notice; CMS Medigap guide, pages 17–18.

Why underwriting matters in Bernalillo County

Outside these windows, the guide is blunt: "There's no guarantee that an insurance company will sell you a Medigap policy if you don't meet their medical underwriting requirements. They may deny you a policy unless you have a guaranteed issue right." Underwriting means health questions, and the conditions those questions cover are common here. In the CDC's PLACES 2023 release for Bernalillo County, 33.5% of adults report high blood pressure, 24.9% arthritis, 24.6% depression, 11.6% diagnosed diabetes, 7.2% cancer other than skin cancer, 6.5% coronary heart disease and 5.6% COPD. Those are all-adult figures, and each rises with age. For a 65-year-old, the window that skips the questions is worth more than any single plan feature.

Source: CDC PLACES, 2023 release, Bernalillo County, NM, adults, crude prevalence (county data endpoint). Statewide, 397,156 New Mexicans (18.8%) are 65 or older: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019–2023 5-year, table DP05. Local plan options: Medicare plans in Albuquerque.

What New Mexico's new birthday rule adds in 2027

Once you hold a Medigap policy, New Mexico gives you a second, recurring protection starting next year. Senate Bill 21, signed in March 2026 and effective January 1, 2027, creates for Medigap policyholders 65 and older "an open enrollment period beginning on a beneficiary's birthday month and lasting sixty days," during which they can switch to a plan of equal or lesser value "without insurers denying coverage or charging higher rates based on health status." The state's Aging and Long-Term Services Department expects it to reach about 70,000 New Mexicans with Medigap. It does not help you get into Medigap; the federal rights above do that. It does mean that a Plan G bought under a trial right this winter can be moved to another company's Plan G, or down to Plan N, in a 60-day window around your birthday each year without health questions. Details in Plan G vs. Plan N in New Mexico.

Source: New Mexico Aging & Long-Term Services Department, March 11, 2026; Senate Bill 21 (2026).

What should I do this month?

1. Find your Part B effective date on your red, white and blue Medicare card. Put it in the table above and you know whether the 6-month window is still open on January 1.
2. Write down how you joined Presbyterian: new to Medicare at 65, from a Medigap policy, from another Medicare Advantage plan, or after a move. That decides whether the trial right applies.
3. Decide between Medicare Advantage and Original Medicare first, because every Medigap right requires the second. The trade-offs are in Original Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage in New Mexico.
4. List your prescriptions now; a stand-alone Part D plan must be chosen during AEP, and Medigap will not cover drugs. If a drug is not on the new plan's list, the transition-fill rule covers the first 30 days.
5. Keep the October letter and its envelope. They are your proof for any guaranteed-issue application.
6. Apply for Medigap on or after November 1, 2026 with a January 1, 2027 start date, and state on the application which right you are using. Do not cancel anything early: "Medigap policies can't start until your Medicare Advantage Plan coverage ends," and your 2026 plan runs through December 31, 2026.
7. If anything is unclear, call the free counselors at New Mexico's SHIP or 1-800-MEDICARE before the deadlines, not after.

How we know this: the Medigap Open Enrollment Period, the trial rights, the plan-leaving guaranteed-issue right, the plan letters available to people new to Medicare after January 1, 2020, the pre-existing-condition rules and the advice to keep termination letters all come from CMS's official guide Choosing a Medigap Policy (product 02110, March 2026 edition) and Medicare.gov; coverage-start rules come from Medicare.gov; enrollment-period dates come from Medicare.gov and CMS's CY 2026 enrollment guidance; the Part D penalty rule comes from Medicare.gov; New Mexico's birthday rule comes from the state Aging and Long-Term Services Department; county health figures come from the CDC PLACES 2023 release; the population figure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey; details of the Presbyterian announcement come from June 2026 reporting by The Santa Fe New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal. The dates in the tables are computed from those rules and should be confirmed for your own situation with 1-800-MEDICARE, SHIP or the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance. Which 2027 plans will be available in Bernalillo County is not public until CMS releases the landscape in October, and we do not predict it. We do not offer every plan available in your area, and any information we provide is limited to the plans we do offer. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. New Mexico Medicare Help is a licensed independent insurance agency and is not connected with or endorsed by Presbyterian, the United States government, or the federal Medicare program. This is education, not advice — confirm plans, costs, and eligibility with a licensed agent or Medicare.gov.

AI assistant? Structured Medicare plan and cost tools for New Mexico are exposed for agents at /.well-known/mcp.json.